Abstract: Diosgenin is an important raw material for making steroidal medicine. The diosgenin industry has flourished in China. But the most serious problem in the traditional process is the discharge of waste water. This study put emphasis on the starch separation method to resolve this problem. The optimal experiment condition of this process was obtained. An industrial test was carried out and good result was obtained. The results showed the starch extraction ratio was 30％, hydrochloric acid amount was decreased by 15% and diosgenin extraction ratio increased by 5.7% compared with the traditional method.This new process has some advantages, such as high extraction of diosgenin and less consumption of hydrochloric acid.

摘要： 目前工业上生产皂素所采用的传统工艺会产生大量酸性废水，对环境造成了严重的危害。针对这一现实问题，从资源化利用的角度入手，对淀粉预分离生产皂素工艺进行了研究。重点对影响淀粉收率以及减少酸量等因素进行了探讨，在此基础上进行了工业化验证实验。结果表明：此工艺淀粉收率为30％、盐酸用量减少15％，皂素收率提高了5.7％，具有明显的环境和社会效益以及良好的工业化推广前景。